Bobcats looking deep as fall camp begins

For the first time since Jake Spavital took over as Texas State head coach, he feels like the team has decent depth.

The Bobcats checked into fall camp on Thursday and took to the field on Friday. It was the first practice in maroon and gold for many newcomers, though some transfers made it to campus in the spring. Spavital said that when he helped other head coaches take over programs as an assistant, the goal was to add 70-75 new scholarship players by the start of their third year.

“You're flipping the roster of where you're at. And that's what we've done,” Spavital said. “We're at about 75, probably, total new guys, you know, scholarship guys. And that's helped us out a ton and that's where you want to be.”

A few players are being held out at the moment. Junior offensive linemen Alex Costilla and Eddie Rivas are both heading to doctor’s appointments this week to assess their injuries, though Spavital said he expects to have them both back within two weeks. Defensive coordinator Zac Spavital said that junior cornerback Jarron Morris is still recovering from a knee scope.

But Texas State also has players returning from injury, like senior defensive lineman Caeveon Patton, who was held out all last season and was limited in drills in the spring. The coaches were excited to see him lining up on the field again on Friday but are still trying to ease him back into things. 

One of the main benefits of having a deeper roster, though, is that they can afford to. Zac said that in Friday’s practice, the top players took 15-20 snaps in the team segment. A year ago, that number would’ve been closer to 25-30. For a starter like Patton or Morris, it’ll be a difference of 100 or more snaps by the start of the season, keeping them fresher.

“We feel good about the depth,” Jake Spavital said. “There's a lot of kids out there, as you guys probably can tell, it's a ton of kids out there right now, which is good because fall camp is a grind.”

The head coach said it’s been beneficial that the large majority of the newcomers are transfers. Many of the “elementary” conversations with them don’t have to take place. Some players, like North Carolina transfer wide receiver Rontavious “Toe” Groves, ran a similar scheme at their old school and already know a lot of the plays the Bobcats run. The head coach said Friday was the most installs he’s ever done in the first practice of a fall camp.

It’s also been beneficial that the team’s COVID-19 policies have been relaxed. Last summer, Spavital spent a lot of time teaching his players about what protocols were being put in place so that the season could go on during the pandemic. Most of the meetings took place over Zoom.

But Thursday, the Bobcats held a compliance meeting in-person that only took 40 minutes to wrap up. Afterward, they went across the street to EVO Entertainment in the Springtown Center to bowl and watch movies together.

“It was so efficient and so much better and easier,” Spavital said. “Our kids are actually relieved of that because, when you start having to do all the moving parts, the communication has to be at a premium.”

Spavital said he wasn’t sure what exact percentage of his players were vaccinated, but estimated it to be between 70-75% and said he feels like the team is “in a good spot.” Texas State’s staff will continue to educate its unvaccinated players regarding the masking, social distancing, COVID testing and travel protocols they’ll have to go through.

Texas State will undergo another practice in just helmets and shorts on Saturday, then take a recovery day on Sunday. The team will add pads all next week.

“Man, I’m fired up to be back,” Spavtail said. “I think this team has been working extremely hard this offseason, I think they're pretty fired up to show you the product that they've been working on.”